Harry Potter and Robin Hood: a dream combination?

June 02, 2016

Our recent survey has revealed that Harry Potter and Robin Hood would be the nation’s favourite literary mash-up!

We commissioned some research for the final week to enter the National Young Writers’ Awards, and discovered that a quarter (24%) of people asked named Harry Potter and Robin Hood as the characters they’d most like to see star together in a literary mash-up – when two genres combine.

This was closely followed by the daring James Bond with the doggy dealing nightmare, Cruella de Vil (20%), and cinematic hero Indiana Jones with fairy-tale legend, Snow White (19%).

The theme of this year’s National Young Writers’ Awards is ‘mash-up’ where children are challenged to write a 500 word story where two genres collide. Judged by best-selling author of the Ruby Redfort and Charlie & Lola series of books, Lauren Child, kids from all over the UK are competing for a trip to Disneyland Paris and £500 worth of books for their school. The deadline for entries is Tuesday 7th June.

The nation’s favourite literary mash-ups were named as follows:

Harry Potter and Robin Hood

James Bond and Cruella de Vil

Indiana Jones and Snow White

Jack Sparrow and Ellen Ripley (Alien)

Forrest Gump and Frankenstein

Jon Snow (Game of Thrones) and Alice in Wonderland

Han Solo (Star Wars) and The White Witch (Narnia)

Wolverine and Winnie the Pooh

Doctor Who and Cinderella

Batman and Jane Eyre

And when it comes to the nation’s favourite genres:

Thriller/Suspense

Crime/Detective

Fantasy

Comedy

Romance

Biography

Drama

Horror

Classic

Fairy Tale

We were also delighted to find out that seven to 10 year olds love reading the most, with 87% of children having asked for a book as a present! The grand old tradition of reading bedtime stories is still alive and well with 39% of parents of children aged four to 11 reading with their child every night. Just over one in 10 (14%) said they did once a week and just 7% said they never did at all.

Carey Ann Dodah, Head of Curriculum at Explore Learning says: “It’s wonderful to see that parents and children alike still love reading. No matter how busy our lives are, it’s essential to take the time to get lost in a good book and let your imagination fly!”

“It’s also very interesting to see that we are a nation of thrill seekers; keen on stories that keep us on the edge of our seats. The fact that people would most like to read a mash-up of the literary heroes of Harry Potter and Robin Hood show they have a very vivid imagination and we hope this will spur on lots of entries into our fantastic writing competition!”

Author Q&A: Julia Gray

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lion

eclipse

bathed

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23cm

184 cm

230cm

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Went causing fence the the bolt horses to fireworks off

fence

horses

fireworks

the

Which of these numbers is NOT a cube number?*

64

1000

25

27

8

Identify the sentence that is written in the passive voice:*

The antelope was chased through the wilderness for over half an hour.

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Complete the word: _la__d so that it means the same, or nearly the same, as 'joyful'*

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A

B

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C

Identify the part of the sentence that contains a superlative adjective:*

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Which is the longest amount of time?*

35 minutes

10 minutes

1 hour

80 minutes

Choose the option that must end with a question mark*

Can you guess what the film will be about

The film is due to start in 30 minutes

Ask me about my favourite part of the film

Tell me which film you would like to watch

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We had to stay inside at lunchtime .... it was raining.

or

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12:00

12:34

11:57

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68

27

42

24

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airport - import - portable - transport

lift

sail

carry

bring

What punctuation mark is needed between the words 'towel' and 'suncream'?*

When I go on holiday I need to pack a towel suncream and sunglasses

a comma

a question mark

a full stop

an apostrophe

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£1.00

£0.60

£0.80

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ten past six

half past three

quarter past six

half past two

What is 35% of 280?*

98

98%

102

102%

Which is the noun in the sentence below?*

The bird sang loudly.

the

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bird

loudly

Which sentence below uses past progressive tense?*

Alex found her homework too easy

Before dad went to work, he had a nap

Ross showed me his new car

Rachel was learning a dance for the competition

Ben ate a quarter of a pizza. Which fraction shows the amount he ate?*

1/4

2/4

3/4

4/4

Which verb completes the sentence so that it uses the subjunctive form?*

If I ..... the teacher, I would let the class leave early.

were

am

was

be

Which sentence uses an exclamation mark correctly?*

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Can you help me find my shoes!

It has started to rain!

How did you read that so fast!

3.4 + 4.023 = ?*

7.423

7.023

6.423

Which shape is a hexagon?*

A

B

C

D

Which word is the object in the sentence below?*

The girl ate a large pizza at the restaurant.

restaurant

large

girl

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Which sentence is written in the present tense?*

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Identify the part of the sentence that contains a relative clause.*

On Saturday

the car broke down,

which distressed Viktor

as he was late for the match.

Jill arrived at school 45 minutes late. Kelly arrived seven minutes early. Jo arrived on time at 8:35a.m. How much later was Jill than Kelly?*

52 minutes

7 minutes

35 minutes

45 minutes

47 minutes

Cara is saving her paper round earnings to buy a new bicycle. She earns £6, seven days a week. The bicycle costs £462, how many weeks will it take her to save enough money to buy the bike?*

9 weeks

11 weeks

8 weeks

10 weeks

12 weeks

A four-letter word is hidden at the end of one word and the beginning of the next word. Identify the two words that make the hidden word.*

The candle added little to the ambience

The candle

candle added

added little

little to

the ambience

Identify the part of the sentence that contains the pronoun.*

"Do you

like strawberry

and vanilla ice cream?"

enquired Katie.

Look at the shape on the left. In which drawing on the right is it hidden? (Note: it is the same size and is facing the same direction.)*

A

B

C

D

E

What is the size of angle x in the triangle below?*

85 ̊

30 ̊

35 ̊

65 ̊

115 ̊

Identify which word has the CLOSEST MEANING to belligerent.*

antagonistic

friendly

agreeable

peaceful

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One word, which is in capitals, has had three consecutive letters taken out. These three letters on their own will make one correctly spelt word, without changing the order. Identify the three-letter word that completes the word with the missing letters.*

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Choose your location

Which word best completes this sentence?*

The dog sat on the ......

mat

twist

chat

Which of these letters is a vowel?*

s

h

e

t

Spell the missing word:*

I talked to my friend on the ..... last night

foan

fone

phoan

phone

Find the preposition in this sentence:*

The train went through a tunnel

The

train

went

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tunnel

Which word does not belong?*

wear

repair

share

fort

Match the verbs to the correct tenses:*

Wriggled / will succeed / beam

Past / present / future

Past / future / present

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Future / past / present

Which of these is NOT a plot feature?*

Conclusion

Metaphor

Rising action

Climax

We ..... we were going in the right direction.*

assumed

ussumed

assumeed

asumed

Which tense is this sentence in?*

We will have finished dinner at 9pm.

Future perfect

Past

Present

Conditional

Which letter do you need to complete the word: c_t*

o

a

e

One fox, two ......?*

foxes

foxx

foxs

Which word is not a type of food?*

rice

flour

peanut

apple

brick

Which of these statements is a fact?*

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Which sentence uses the apostrophe correctly?*

Davids trouser’s are red.

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Identify the modal verb in this sentence:*

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should

have

eaten

last

Which word is the synonym for 'see'?*

Sand

View

Ocean

Castle

Which of these is NOT an auxiliary verb?*

Have

Listen

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Do

Which of these spellings does NOT need correcting?*

Budgit

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How many phonic sounds make up this word?*

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A

B

C

Pick the correct spelling:*

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cawt

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Complete the sentence with the correct word:*

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prey

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Which punctuation mark should introduce a list?*

;

!

:

-

?

Match the idiom to the its meaning:*

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The consequence of not training for the marathon was an injury mid training. How is the word 'consequence' being used in this sentence?*

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Positive connotation

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Negative connotation

Which number is one more than 7?*

4

8

6

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Square

Triangle

Circle

Complete the following sequence:*

3, 6, ?, 12, 15, ?, ?, 24, ?, 30

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7...17, 23...27

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A dessert is one scoop of ice cream and some sprinkles. If there are two flavours of ice cream and two types of sprinkles, how many different desserts can you make?*

2

4

8

Find the mode of these numbers:*

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5

4

3

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121

29

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53

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Circle

Square

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76

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24 > .....?

30

24

11

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216

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24

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9

5

8

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